Love Lockdown
by Notaboutyou
Summary: AU Brittana. Brittany is a new student in Santana's class. Brittany and Santana have an instant connection. But when Quinn, the mean girl of school makes Brittany her new target, everything changes. Will Santana put her own popularity in jeopardy for Brittany? Or will she choose her own boyfriend Finn and popularity above Brittany to please her mom?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, I'm back. And with a full new story yay. First, I'd like to thank my new beta Elisabeth aka escapetofoolsparadise who helped me with this chapter, so thank you for that. She did an amazing job. Secondly, I'd like to tell you a couple of things about this story. It's a high school story about Santana and Brittany (obviously). The saying goes: write about what you know and since I'm sixteen, high school is all I know. And there's the fact that I totally ignored that rule with the wedding date, so here it goes. The story is set in Antwerp, which is my home town. I know I could have just as easily picked New York or Los Angeles, but I haven't been to any of these places. I'm guessing not a lot of you actually live in New York or Los Angeles so I hope you won't mind that I picked my home town. It does make it a lot easier to write. **

**This story is also about the pressure of high school. The level of education is insanely high in Flanders (part of Belgium). Our teachers are supposedly the third best in the world. I'm not saying this to brag about Belgium, but I'm saying that schools are not to be messed with here. Certainly the school that Santana goes to, which is inspired by my own school. I can tell you for one that the school is tough and the pressure is high. **

**Third and last. This story is much more personal than the last. I'm not going as far as to say that Santana is the same person as me, but we do share a lot of experiences and feelings. My mom however is way nicer than Santana's and so are my friends, luckily. Some parts of the story are related to personal experiences, but everything is written more dramatically than in my own life for the sake of the story. **

**If you are still reading this awkward long authors note then thank you. I hope you will enjoy the first chapter of the new story. Be sure to leave a review. It's only the first chapter so if you don't like it, please tell me so I can adjust before you give up on the story. If you do like it, be sure to let me know. It does really help with the writing to know that you are writing for people who are looking forward to reading it. Thanks. Enjoy. **

* * *

I stared at my reflection in the mirror. The long black hair lay flat across my shoulders. My eyes met with brown ones in the reflection. I sighed deeply and quickly applied some make-up to at least make myself look decent for the very first day of junior year.

I couldn't deny it. I was nervous. I didn't really like school that much but every person is nervous on their first day of school. Yes, I had been going to the same school for two years now, but still, it felt new. This year I was a junior. Only two more years at that crappy high school and then I could finally get out of there. And I for one couldn't wait. I put down the mascara and turned away from the mirror. I quickly grabbed an apple to eat on the way to school. Of course I got up way too late for the first day. It was the same every Monday morning but this one felt even worse than usual. After two months of getting to sleep in, I had to admit that waking up at seven am was really tough.

My mom forced me to go to bed at ten o'clock, but she forgot to take away my laptop. Bad idea. I just spent the entire night on the computer.

Just when I was about to grab my bike to leave for school, my mom started talking to me.

"Santana. Did you have breakfast?" She asked.

I sighed loudly. "No, mom. My alarm didn't go off so I didn't have time for breakfast. I got an apple I can eat on my bike."

"That's not breakfast Santana. You should have some real food instead." My mom whined.

"And since when are apples not real food? I'm sorry, mom, but I was under the impression that apples were fruit and fruit was actual, real food." I snapped back. My mood was terrible.

I could see that my mom didn't appreciate my comment. Her face turned angry.

"Santana. Do not use that tone with me, young lady."

I internally rolled my eyes. It was such a cliché that my mom used young lady every time she was angry with me.

"I'm sorry mom. But I really need to take off. Otherwise I'll be late for the first day."

My mom placed a quick kiss on my cheek. "Have fun at school."

"Thanks mom."

I jumped onto my bike and started racing towards school. My mom worked at the bank. I knew it sounded like a pretty decent job but she was basically the receptionist although that's something I would never dare say to her face. She'd be really pissed if I pointed out to that her job is super easy and practically anyone could do it. She actually took pride in her stupid career. Whatever.

I took a couple of bites off the apple and tossed it aside on the road. I was driving way too fast to bike around in Antwerp. Antwerp might not have been the biggest city in the world but it was like the second biggest city in Belgium and that counted for something, right? Apparently it was considered to be the capital of fashion, after Paris of course, and Barcelona and probably a lot of other cities, not that I really cared. Fashion wasn't really my thing. Luckily my mom really seemed to care about that shit so I just stole her clothes in order to properly fit in in high school. But aside from being known for fashion, Antwerp was pretty amazing. The city felt big but you could practically walk to anywhere you wanted and I liked that. I hadn't visited that much other cities but I was pretty sure that Antwerp would always be on the top of my list. I grew up here and I loved every part of it.

I arrived at school and quickly locked up my bike. I looked around the street to see if any of my friends were there yet. I'd rather not walk alone in school. Walking alone on the first day is just plain sad and I'd prefer not start my junior year as the girl without friends despite having been at the same school for two years.

If I learnt one thing about high school, it's that you don't choose your friends. The school chose them, and you can be pretty darn sure you had absolutely no say in it. From the moment you set your first step into the school, you were put into a group of people. People, which you would probably have to spend the rest of your high school years with. Every single person that steps through those big, wooden doors gets a label put on them. Jock, stoner, nerd, slut, nice people, the popular group, and so many more.

And you had absolutely no input into which group you were thrown. Or at least, that's how I saw it. I didn't have a choice. Not on that first day, not in the years to follow. But should I really complain? After all, I was part of the popular group, the group that was supposed to have the most fun. Dating the hot guys, going to the best parties, liked by everyone. When you were a part of the popular group, you shouldn't complain, right? But I always knew that I had never quite fit in. And nobody tells you about the backstabbing that comes with it.

Nobody tells you about how bitchy girls can be to each other, but I learnt it, and I learnt it pretty fast. You have to learn quickly or otherwise you never get used to it.

It's not just the backstabbing. The thing is girls hid their true character. You never quite knew where you stood with your friends. Either they did actually like you or they just flat-out lied to your face. Sometimes I wished I were a boy. Things, at times, seemed so much easier being a guy. If guys had a fight, they would just solve it with their fists. You might end up with a black eye, but afterwards two guys could hug it out. I never quite understood how they do it, but it seemed to work. I wasn't saying I would use my fists in every single argument I had with a friend but sometimes it did seem better than the alternative.

When two girls fought, you could practically be sure that it will last for at least a week, sometimes even months. It usually started with something useless, like clothes or even worse, boys. Two girls could be best friends one day and ignore each other the next. There were a couple of outcomes for big fights but soon enough I learnt that the most common is the forgive-but-not-forgotten method.

As the name says, the whole fight just ends without it ever being really solved and everyone seems to have moved on. But if you believed that a girl ever forgets anything like that, you're wrong. They could hold grudges for months, even years. And that was exactly what happened between Quinn Fabray and me. Quinn Fabray. Everyone knew Quinn and if you didn't, then you were really missing out. Not only was she the most popular girl of school, she also happened to be the prettiest.

Her long, blonde hair and almost green eyes gave Quinn an angelic face. But don't be mistaken by her gorgeous face and innocent eyes, Quinn could ruin your life if she wanted. At least she didn't succeed in ruining my life, but that's a story for later.

It seemed like ages ago but a couple of years back Quinn was actually my very best friend. At that time I thought that she was going to be my best friend for the rest of my life, but I was just naïve. Quinn and me met for the very first time at hockey. I couldn't quite remember how or when, but we quickly became great friends.

We had gone on trips together and I would practically spend every weekend at Quinn's house having sleepovers. The Fabray household was filthy rich and you could see it. Their house was four stories high and looked amazing. It was a dream house and I haven't even started on the size of the garden. I tried counting it out and I was pretty darn sure that you could fit four and a half football fields in that huge yard.

Apparently Quinn's father owned one of the biggest companies in the country and even though Belgium wasn't that big, it was still impressive. Her dad also happened to own the hockey club and our hockey club was a reasonable size.

The thing you need to know about hockey, is that it was full of rich kids. Rich kids who either really did want to play sports, or were forced by their parents to actually get off their lazy asses. If you played hockey and you didn't own a big mansion, you didn't belong. Nobody said it out loud but everyone knew it. My family was rich enough for Quinn to even talk to me, but I wasn't sure whether I should be happy or sad about that.

So Quinn and I became best friends, and for some strange reason, so did our moms. They hung out almost just as much as Quinn and I did once they decided to go golfing together. I still don't quite understand why golfing is considered a sport. It's basically just standing still, not moving your feet, hitting a ball and then getting a golf cart to drive after it and repeat the whole process. But on the other hand, you couldn't be the upper class of the population if you didn't golf.

My mom was obsessed with being in the upper class. As a kid, she didn't have many friends. When she and my dad, the most popular guy at college, met and started dating, she saw her chance. She could finally be popular, at the top of the social pyramid. She changed up her appearance, replaced her big glasses for contacts and actually got a decent haircut. So I guess that's the reason she desperately wanted to stay up top. The thought of going back to her previous loser status scared her. So she participated in stupid things like golfing and throwing dinner parties. Whatever.

I walked across the playground trying to spot a friend. I sighed loudly. I barely saw anyone except Finn Hudson, my boyfriend. Yes, I knew I had been ignoring him for the better part of the vacation but he was still really popular. I rather stood with him and his lame friends than walk alone. I hoped he wasn't mad about me ignoring his texts, and calls and all those Facebook messages. I just didn't feel like seeing him because then he would want to kiss me and stuff and I just didn't feel like doing that the whole vacation. So I ignored him. Whatever. Finn wouldn't be mad. Not if I apologized quickly, he'd probably forget it.

"Hey babe."

Finn said as I pecked a quick kiss on his lips. Luckily, he bowed down so I could reach his mouth because he was literally seven feet tall and I wasn't.

"Hi" I faked a smile. It's not that I wasn't happy to see him but I wasn't as happy as I should've been seeing my boyfriend after three weeks. I should've been ecstatic, right? I should've flung my arms around his neck, but I had no intention of wanting to do that. I internally shrugged my shoulders.

"How have you been?" Finn asked curiously. I felt like he was still a little pissed that I ignored him for so long. He glared down at me.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for ignoring you Finn. I was really busy." Lies. I hadn't been busy. I just didn't want to see him.

His eyes looked sad and I quickly kissed him again to make him happy. It seemed to help because his eyes lit up.

"Sorry Finn. Won't happen again." I quickly mumbled.

"It's okay, San. I get it. It just sucked not to hear anything from you for weeks. I missed you."

"I missed you too." Lie.

Suddenly I felt myself get lifted up by the waist. I let out a little scream as some guy spinned me around.

"Put me down." I said hysterically. Luckily, the guy put me down fast enough.

"I missed you, Lopez."

I turned around to greet Noah Puckerman, better known as Puck. Puck was probably the most annoying, teasing jackass I knew, but I couldn't help but love him, as a friend of course. We'd known each other ever since we were toddlers.

We even went on vacations together and stuff. We drove each other crazy but in the end, we had each other's back.

"Wish I could say the same, Noah." I laughed.

Puck poked me in the stomach.

"Just admit that you miss me. I mean, who could blame you? I would miss all of this too, if I were you." Puck rubbed all over his own body.

"Don't flatter yourself. But yes, I must admit. I missed your stupid ass." I laughed.

Puck opened his arms. I smiled and happily hugged him back. Puck wasn't as tall as Finn, but still taller than me. He wrapped his strong arms around me and I realized that I did actually miss him.

I pulled away and looked up at him.

"I really missed you Lopez. You should have called more." Puck said.

We started walking around the playground, so that the two of us could talk privately.

"Yeah, I know." I shrugged.

"And speaking of calling more, why in the world didn't you call Finn? He kept asking me if I heard anything from you."

A feeling of guilt washed over me. I really shouldn't have ignored him. After all, he really hadn't done anything wrong, had he? "I know, Puck. I should have called. I honestly don't know why I didn't." I shrugged.

"I just felt sorry for him. When I saw him, he always asked about you. He thought you two had broken up and that you were hinting at something he didn't understand."

I sighed. "I really wasn't. I just wanted some space I guess."

Puck stopped walking to look me in the eye. "Do you want to break up with Finn? Because if you do, you should at least do it face to face. Finn is my bro and he deserves that." Puck stated.

"Look, I don't want to break up with him. At least not now, okay? Can you just drop it? Because frankly it is none of your business." Puck telling me what to do was getting on my nerves. He should've just minded his own fucking business for once.

"Fine." Puck grunted.

I decided change the subject. "So how was your vacation?"

"Awesome. My dad got me a job at his firm. It wasn't the best job in the world but I had so much fun. Plus I made a lot of money so that means I can spend it on the real things in life."

I laughed. "And those things are?"

"Drugs and alcohol of course." Puck winked.

I snorted. "I thought you were going for a sober period? Wasn't that your plan? Not drink or smoke for two months."

Puck shrugged. "Look, I have given up on that already. I decided that life is too short to not party. So instead of two months not drinking or smoking, I've set a new goal. I am going to smoke and drink a lot more than usual in two months. With all the money that I earned I can drink and party even more than before." Puck happily threw his arms in the air.

"If you think that can get you Quinn, then go ahead, bro."

Puck had been in love with Quinn since freshman year, but she was totally not interested in him. I was the only one that Puck actually told and I never passed up on the opportunity to tease him about it. Puck had asked her out several times, but she'd never said yes. Quinn had been in love with Finn since forever aka my boyfriend. Ever since Quinn heard about Finn being in love with me, our friendship went downhill and fast. We were already drifting apart for that reason but the moment Finn and I officially became a couple, Quinn had become an ice queen.

To my face she was friendly, but I saw her death-glares all the time and we never hung out anymore. Every chance she got she would insult me. Not real insults that everyone would notice but small things that really got me down.

"Just hope that she doesn't chase your boyfriend anymore." Puck laughed.

I didn't think the situation was that funny actually but I didn't mention it. "Whatever. Finn will never break up with me."

We started walking back towards Finn and his friends and continued our conversation.

"Yeah, I know. But just because he will never break up with you does not mean you can treat him like crap, you know."

I swallowed hard. Puck was right. Fuck.

"I'm going to catch up with my friends, ok?" I said, totally ignoring Puck's remark.

He shrugged and I walked away towards a big group of popular girls. And of course, they were all listening to Quinn telling a story about her amazing vacation. Frankly, I couldn't care less.

I said hi to all the girls that were at school already. Quinn quickly nodded at me, acknowledging my presence. That was all the interaction that Quinn and I had recently. Suddenly I heard the school bell ringing making clear that everyone was supposed to go to class.

I sighed loudly and walked towards the right class. In all honesty, I was smart. I didn't have to study a lot and I got decent grades. My grades were never above average but for the amount that I actually studied, it was pretty amazing how I managed to keep them that way. One of my teachers from last year had advised me to study more to get better grades but what did it actually matter anyway? Grades didn't determine much when it came to getting into university. Practically everyone got accepted so I studied just about enough.

But I was still smart enough to get into the hardest class. But so was Quinn. Quinn however had a totally different approach to studying than I did. She studied a lot and I seriously didn't understand why. Perhaps she thought it was the way to Finn's heart, but I could assure her that was not the case. Good food was the way to Finn's heart. Finn hardly knew the difference between apple pie and pi. But Quinn studied awfully hard and seemed to pay off. She got amazing grades and was at the top of her class.

That was together with Rachel Berry. That annoying little brat had been in my class since like forever and drove me crazy. She studied like it was the only important thing in the world and then blabbed on for hours about how her singing career was right around the corner. Even though everyone knew it, nobody dared to say it out loud. Rachel Berry was not going to be a star. Her voice was good, amazing even, but nobody in Belgium became famous apart from one or two rare cases.

Plus Rachel had the quality to annoy people from the second they got to know her and that was not a quality you wanted when you craved to become a famous singer. But I wouldn't be the one to burst her bubble. I tried to explain to her once that she wasn't going to be the next Beyoncé but she just started to sing loudly into my ear, trying to make me realize that I was wrong. I wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Rachel did kind of remind me of one Hermione Granger, but in a way more obnoxious, loud, annoying, and totally not Emma Watson-kind of hot. She knew the answer to every question the teacher asked and had the best grades in class. Whatever. I tolerated her because she always helped me when I forgot something at school. I knew it was rude to use someone, but hey? It was only Rachel Berry. Who could blame me? She would do anything to be a part of what people would call the popular group. But she would never be a part of them, or should I say us. I wasn't even sure.

"So how was your vacation?" Tina Cohen-Chang asked me as we walked to class.

When I first met Tina, I thought she was a foreign exchange student from China, but she wasn't. She was born in China, but when she was a year old, a family here adopted her. Her actual name was Tina Fey, but she liked to remind people of her true heritage. She considered China to be a cooler country than Belgium. I just felt bad for her parents that she refused acknowledge her adoptive guardians by using their last name.

"It was great. How was yours?" I wasn't in the mood to have a long conversation and I just hoped that Tina would tell me about her vacation. That way, I could occasionally nod and pretend I was still listening to her even though I wasn't.

"It was good." Tina said and like I had predicted, she started rambling on and on about her vacation. I caught some words that sounded a lot like England and France so that was probably where Tina had gone for vacation.

We arrived to class after walking up three sets of stairs. I was slightly out of breath but who could blame me? I hadn't played hockey in three months and I was way too lazy to go running during the vacation. I looked over at Tina, whose breath was heaving too. That made me feel slightly better about myself.

We walked into class and Tina and I sat down. My teacher from last year walked in just after us. It was tradition in my school to get last year's teachers to send you off to all your new ones.

"Good morning guys. I'm sure you have all missed school just as much as I did. But I'm afraid this is the last time you'll be my students. From now I send you all off to a new home, junior year. This is the year that all you little birds will transform into big, majestic eagles. This is the moment everything starts to count. These two years will be the start of your life. Not only will this year be the toughest, you will also have to face some hard decisions. If you thought senior year was the hardest, you were wrong. The next twelve months will be the most difficult of your high school career. You will be forced to complete more assignments, take more tests and write more exams than ever. The reason you will have to do all that this year is because senior year is reserved for a bunch of other stuff. When you become a senior you will have to focus all your free time on graduating so we have no choice but to mash everything into one year."

The whole class groaned. I had heard from a friend that this year was going to be tough. One girl had a major breakdown and she had to go to a therapist and everything. It was awful. When she got back, everyone stared at her like she had done something terrible when in reality, it was the school that made her go crazy. The school considered it to be bad publicity so she was asked to leave. I hadn't heard from her since.

"So make sure that you are all prepared to work hard this year. The assignments you are given will be harder and the teachers will be harsher so be prepared." The teacher warned. He pointed his finger at everyone and continued.

"All of you will have to put in the effort and work hard to make it through to the end because otherwise, you will be forced to sit here in this same classroom next year, repeating the full year once again. You will struggle more than everyone else in your grade because you chose the hardest way. Yes, all of you had the chance to pick the easy route, but you didn't. I admire all of you for that. You chose the tough combination of mathematics and science. You will have eight hours a week of math and eight hours of science split into different subjects such as physics and biology. Your teachers have all graduated from university in the course they are currently teaching. They studied for years and are now here to teach all of you what it means to be a real scientist."

I rolled my eyes. Please, we were in high school. It's not like we were going to do extravagant experiments or change the world's view on science in general. We'd probably see a bunch of formulas and that was that.

"So now, I hereby present to you, your new mathematics teacher, Mr. Philips." Our teacher pointed dramatically to the door.

Everybody gasped when a tall, bald man walked in. Some of people that were still discussing their summer vacation fell silent as everyone's eyes were glued to the man by the door. I immediately felt frightened by him. He looked absolutely terrifying. He was wearing a suit that gave him a sharp, intimidating look. He did not have hair and the light from the ceiling bounced off his bald head. His eyes pierced through everyone. In that moment it felt like he knew every secret, every weakness and everything you had ever done wrong with one glance. An eyebrow rose as he scanned the class. It almost seemed like he was mocking us. It looked as though he thought it was a joke that we were here, in his class. He gave the impression of thinking that we, without a doubt in his mind, lacked the brains to be here.

"Good morning." He said loudly, with a nasal voice.

Nobody even dared to say it back to him.

"Aren't you going to say good morning back to me? I thought you would at least have more manners?" He said slowly.

Everyone mumbled a quiet good morning sir in reply.

A small smile played across Mr. Philips thin lips. His face was pale and his eyes almost seemed to pop out of his head.

"Good." He snickered. With his hands clutched together behind his back, he walked towards the front of the class.

Even our old teacher seemed scared of Philips. He kept staring at the door, wanting to walk out.

"Well, I'll leave you here then, won't I? You can take care of the rest." He said nervously.

"Of course I can." Philips said dryly. He didn't even glance at the other teacher.

"Good luck guys." Our old teacher said while he hurried out the door.

"So this is my class?" Philips mumbled. To me, it appeared as if he was talking more to himself than to the class.

"This guy scares the crap out of me." I whispered quietly into Tina's ear who quickly nodded in response.

"SILENCE!" Philips suddenly yelled. My heart thumped in my chest. This guy was terrifying.

"Who spoke without my permission?" He asked. His face revealed the anger he was obviously feeling.

I couldn't help but stare at my desk, hoping he wouldn't notice me.

"I'll let this one pass, but if someone speaks without my permission again, they will be going to the principal's office and you will have to write lines for me. With all my years of experience I have developed a nice, little formula. One hundred lines."

I stared at him. That was a lot.

"Per word you said without my permission."

I swallowed hard. This guy was tough.

He seemed to smile for a second and said: "But it's the first day, so I'll be nice. I still have an entire year to torture each and every one of you."

He looked over at the clock behind him. "Well, I guess the new student will arrive soon."

Oh, so there was going to be a new student. New pupils got put in a different room with all new students. The principal explained pretty much all the rules and then they got sent off to their respective classes. And Philips was right. Suddenly we heard a small knock on the door. Philips, again with his hands clasped together behind his back, walked towards the door. He quickly swung it open and stared at the student waiting outside.

"Are you the new female student of this extraordinary class?" He asked the girl. I immediately felt sorry for her. Philips was basically giving her a death-glare.

"Yes." I heard a small voice but I couldn't see the girl.

"Yes? In this classroom we speak with two words. I do not solely understand the word yes. I only understand the combination of yes and sir and that only applies when I'm actually interested in what you have to say. And I must admit, that does not happen too often." Philips rambled angrily.

"I'm sorry sir."

"Fine." Philips grunted. "You have earned the right to enter this classroom. I hope you will behave better in the future."

Philips stepped away from the door and started walking towards the front of the class once again.

A tall, blonde girl walked into the class. This girl was possibly wearing the strangest outfit I had seen in my entire life. Belgium didn't have a hot climate but in September the weather was still pretty decent. However, the girl was wearing a yellow rain hat even though it hadn't rained today. She paired it with a pink sweater that had a unicorn on it. It even had a small horn taped on top. The horn was actually sticking out of the sweater. She was wearing green shorts with knee long red boots. I almost had to stop myself from laughing out loud because her outfit looked ridiculous.

But her legs did look amazing with those green shorts and before I even realized, I was staring at them. This girl, despite her awful taste in fashion, was insanely pretty. Her long, blonde hair lay across her shoulders. Her face looked innocent and almost angelic. She looked kind of sad and lost and it seemed like she had no idea what she needed to do so she just sat down on a chair on the last row.

I couldn't keep my eyes off her. She looked amazing. Luckily she didn't notice my staring because she was gazing at her desk.

"What the hell is she wearing?" Tina said with a whisper in my ear.

I simply nodded. I was still amazed by the beauty of this girl. What I liked about her was that she seemed oblivious to her prettiness. I liked that. It was the same with guys. From the moment they knew that they were hot, they lost a part of their allure. But this girl didn't seem to have a single clue how amazing she actually looked and it felt so damn refreshing.

"I have no idea, she looks insane." I laughed.

"Can't she wear normal clothes like other people? I hate people who want too much attention." Tina turned around and stared back at the front of the class.

I did not agree with Tina. I was pretty sure that this girl was not trying to get attention. She probably really liked that outfit and wanted to wear it the first day on school. But Tina was kind of right when I thought about it. Coming to school in that outfit on your first day wasn't the best plan, especially if you wanted people to like you. But whatever, it was her life right?

I was still staring at her gorgeous face and I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away. Suddenly, the blonde mysterious girl whose name I had discovered was Brittany looked up and stared right back at me. It felt as if an electric current was running through my body as our eyes connected. Brittany had a small smile on her lips, which I happily returned, hoping that the eye contact would never end. Unfortunately, I could already hear Philips handing out papers, so I had no choice but to look away. What a shame.

I looked at the papers that Philips was still giving out. We had to fill in our address as well as what our did parents for a living. That was something else that was painfully true about our school. As much as they would try to deny it, they preferred rich, smart kids. It gave them a good image. If you were poor and you got bad grades, there's no way in hell you would be allowed to stay, but if you were rich and you got bad grades, they would probably overlook your poor academic performance. But that was only if you were really rich.

The bell finally rang and everybody quickly got on his or her feet. All I wanted to do was go talk to Brittany, find out more about her. But she was the new girl and judging by the look that Quinn had given her, she did not approve of the other blonde. I know I should have been the welcoming amazing, nice student in class who helps the new girl on her way, but I had my popularity at stake. I knew my popularity wasn't strong enough to endure yet another stab to the back, so I didn't go and talk to her. From the corner of my eye, I saw that Rachel fucking Berry was already talking to her. I rolled my eyes. That was so typical. Rachel Berry was that annoying girl that you met on your first day and you immediately knew that you did not want to be seen with her, but you couldn't seem to shake her off.

I walked behind Tina who making her way towards Quinn.

"Did you see what that new girl was wearing? She looked insane." Tina laughed.

I already did not like where this conversation was going, but I didn't have the courage to stand up for some girl I didn't even know and risk pissing Quinn off. She was scary as hell when she was mad and I wasn't confident enough to battle with Quinn Fabray so instead I shut my mouth, as usual.

"I know, right?" Quinn laughed. "For a second there, I thought she was a clown who was going to perform some kind of act. That's how ridiculous she looked. I had trouble containing my laughter."

My fists clenched. I hated when they did this. What the hell had that poor girl done to them? Yes, that's right. Absolutely nothing.

"So, Philips is tough, right?" I tried to change the subject.

"Oh my god, yes. I had no idea we were going to have him as our teacher. Normally, you have Mr. Shue, who apparently is super mellow. But now we're stuck with Philips, damn." Quinn complained.

"Yeah, he practically already screamed at new girl."

Quinn laughed. "She deserved that. Who comes to school in an outfit like that?"

Tina laughed and I remained quiet, not daring to stand up for her, once again.


	2. Chapter Two

**Hi again :) Here's chapter Two. First, thanks to my beta Elisabeth again. Secondly, thanks to everyone who has reviewed/followed/pressed favorite. You're all too sweet. :) I'm super busy during exams right now but luckily I had already written this before I had to study this much. In other good news, I came out to one of my best friends and she was totally supportive. She called me and she told me she was proud of me and that I was still the same person to her, so that's pretty amazing. Congrats to Esther too for coming out to her best friend. I'm proud of us. :) **

**So about this chapter, Santana's mom is a bitch and I hope you like it. Another thing about this fic is that a lot of characters sort of resemble people from my own life, like Kurt, Quinn, Rachel etc. As I said in the last chapter, a lot of this story is based on my own life. For example, like Santana, I too have a crush on the new girl in my class. :) I do hope you enjoy this chapter because I like writing this fic. :)**

**As a response to a review: No, we won't have Brittany's POV. I think it's too confusing to change up POV's and I just don't think it is going to happen. Brittany however is a very open person, so I don't think it should be that hard to guess what she's thinking :)**

**As always, leave a review if you liked it. They really make my day a lot better and I can use that during exam time. Enjoy :)**

* * *

Tina laughed at Brittany's clothes, but I remained completely quiet. I wanted to see Kurt. Where the hell was he?

Kurt was my best friend. Quinn hated him and that was one of the reasons I liked hanging out with him. The other incentive was, of course, Kurt himself. He was brutally honest. At first, I wasn't sure if I liked that aspect of his personality, but after a while, you got used to it and you actually started to appreciate it. I hated people constantly lying to my face and with Kurt, at least you knew he was being truthful with you and honesty was hard to find these days.

The other thing about Kurt was that he was in the closet. I knew he hadn't officially announced it yet, but everybody knew. It was just a matter of time until he actually told the whole world, but I understood he wanted to wait. The world was cruel enough on its own. Kurt also had a great sense of fashion, something I lacked greatly. Going shopping with him was actually kind of fun. He just picked out the good stuff for me to wear and I got to stroll around the store, usually while eating something... you know, the casual life.

"I'm going to Kurt." I said to Quinn.

"I really don't understand why you hang out with him? He's so uncool." Quinn rolled her eyes.

"No, he's not."

Quinn gave me a glance that looked a lot like '_You are so wrong.'_ but I ignored it and walked away from them.

I spotted Kurt sitting next to Marley. Marley was one of the sweetest people I knew, but despite that, I didn't really like her. She was nice. And that was basically all you could say about her. She was quite boring too. She had done absolutely nothing wrong but we were not friends. Sometimes it felt like she didn't have anything interesting to tell, like ever. And she wasn't funny at all but she was kind I guess.

"Hey." I said to Kurt and Marley. Kurt jumped up when he saw me and pulled me into a tight hug. I wasn't much of a hugger but I hadn't seen Kurt in a while, so I allowed it.

"I know you're not a hugger but damn Santana. It has been a while."

"I know." I laughed. I gave Marley a small smile since she was just awkwardly standing next tous, looking at Kurt and me hugging.

"So how have you been?" Kurt patted the seat beside him, indicating I needed to sit down.

"Good, great. Vacation was awesome but it does kind of suck to be back here already."

Kurt grunted. "I know, right. I really wasn't ready to come back here yet."

"So, what did you during your vacation?"

Kurt's family wasn't really that rich and they could barely afford to go on vacation. I knew that.

"We stayed home and I worked."

I felt kind of bad for Kurt. Two months of working just when you could finally have some time for yourself had to suck. "Where did you work?" I asked curiously.

"Well, we were just about to set off for vacation when I got a call from Teen Vogue Belgium and they informed me they wanted an intern. They said all I would be allowed to do was bring coffee around and do small chores but I didn't even care. An internship at Teen Vogue? I couldn't believe my own ears. And it was absolutely amazing. I had a blast. Yes, I brought around more coffee in two months than I had before in my entire life, but it was amazing. All those designers! And I learned so much about fashion. It was basically the best two months of my life."

Wow, that was actually amazing. "That's so awesome, Kurt. I'm impressed. I always knew you had it in you." I laughed.

"Thanks, Santana. So how are you and the boyfriend doing?" Oh, right. Finn. Fuck.

"Good I guess. I didn't see him too much over the summer." I said.

"You haven't done the deed, right?" Here was the blunt honesty. Kurt had absolutely no problem asking me if I had already given Finn my V-card.

"No, I haven't."

"Good, because I think you should save it."

I cocked my eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yes, if you're not in love with him, you shouldn't have your first time with him."

"But I am in love with him." I quickly said, a little defensive and a little too fast.

Kurt stared at me. "Come on Santana. Be honest with me. You're not in love with him, at least not anymore. Otherwise, what would be the reason you two haven't seen each other in a while? I heard from some people that he was desperate to see you, but you wouldn't meet him."

I had absolutely no idea whatsoever how to respond to his question. He was one hundred percent right and I didn't dare lie to him again like I had done a few seconds ago.

"I'm just a little confused, ok? It's not like I'm going to break up with him or anything. He's one of the sweetest guys I know."

"I didn't say anything about breaking up, you brought that up all by yourself." Kurt remarked. Damn him.

"Whatever ok? We're doing fine now."

"Okay." Kurt shrugged but didn't look too convinced.

"We are, I swear." I said to him angrily.

"Santana, honey. You don't need to convince me. As long as you yourself are convinced then I don't give a crap who you're dating. As long as he makes you happy, then it's okay."

That was actually pretty sweet of him.

"So, it's okay then." I said defensively.

Even though Kurt was being nice, my relationship with Finn wasn't his business. It was my business and I was torn thinking about what I was going to do. Having a boyfriend was nice and all and I knew Finn was madly in love with me. I just wasn't sure if I felt the same way about him as he did about me.

"So, do you have fun people in your class?" I asked, trying to change the conversation topic.

Marley nodded her head but didn't say anything. She was quite shy.

Then Kurt spoke: "Yes, we actually do. Our teacher is nice and really funny even though she did warn us how tough this year is going to be."

"Yeah, my teacher did the same. He kept rambling on and on about how we're probably going to fail and I can't fail."

"Nobody wants to fail." Kurt said.

That was true. Nobody wanted to fail and get held back but I couldn't repeat the year. My mom would literally kill me if I didn't pass. I just knew it.

The bell rang and signaled we had to go back to class for another couple of meaningless hours spent sitting at a desk.

The rest of the day went by way too slow. Everything regarding the fifth year got explained, afterwards we had to introduce ourselves to every teacher. It was fun the first two times, but after a while, it got kind of dull. I stole some glances at Brittany but didn't risk talking to her. She seemed nice, but still. I had seen the looks that Quinn had been giving her all day. She didn't approve of the new girl. And I knew what that meant. It meant Brittany had no chance in hell to get into the popular group because if Quinn disapproved of you, you were practically done. That was how it worked. If the Queen Bee didn't like you, neither did her followers.

I wished I didn't apply to that stupid rule but I was afraid I did. I still wasn't strong enough to fight against Quinn and her stupid minions. I couldn't lose my popularity over a girl I barely even knew, so I didn't strike up a conversation, even though I desperately wanted to get to know her.

I had no idea why, but she seemed pretty amazing. After the last bell of the day rang, I quickly packed my bags and headed home. I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was go home and lie on my bed for a couple of hours and maybe even watching some TV. That was it. That was all I wanted to do. But when I came home my mom, of course, wanted to talk to me.

"How was school?" She asked the moment I stepped in through the door. I sighed internally. It was school. Of course it was awful. I had no idea why some people thought your time spent in school was the best time of your life because if this was the best time of my life, then I had no idea what in the world I was still doing here on this earth.

"Good." I mumbled. I walked to the cookie jar as my stomach was growling.

"You shouldn't eat so much cookies." I rolled my eyes. That was my mom for you, always criticizing me and hurting my feelings without her even realizing.

"Fine." I put the cookie back where I got it from despite my stomach's heavy protests. I picked up an apple instead and took a quick bite.

"That's much healthier." My mom approved. I'd rather have eaten the cookie.

"So how is Quinn doing?" And there it was, the question I had been waiting for.

"We're not really good friends anymore mom. You know that."

"I do, dear. And I think that's stupid of you. Quinn is a very lovely, polite girl and you should really go back to being close friends with her like you were before. Don't you remember how happy you were when she was your best friend?"

Of course I did. And would've been happy to be Quinn's best friend again if she hadn't dropped me like a hot potato, but she had and I hadn't told my mom that.

"Of course mom." I replied. I didn't agree with her but it was the easiest way to get her to shut up about Quinn.

"So, how is Finn doing? You two are still together, right?"

When my mom heard that Finn and I were going out, she was ecstatic. She couldn't believe her own ears. Her little girl had managed to date one of the most popular guys in school and he was a year older too. When Finn came over, my mom immediately fell in love with him. For some reason, Finn was a real gentleman and actually behaved decently. So my mom hoped that one day Finn would walk me down the aisle, even though I was pretty sure I would never marry Finn Hudson.

"Yes, mom, Finn and I are still happily dating." I said.

My mom shrugged. "I was just wondering. I haven't seen him around lately, so I was getting quite worried."

"No worries mom. Finn and I are still going steady."

"Good. Finn is a good asset to you."

My mouth fell slightly open. "A good asset?"

My mom shrugged again. "Yes, a good asset. You know what I mean. He's good for your image. He is a popular boy; you're a popular girl so you're supposed to be dating. That's the way it's meant to be."

I had absolutely no response to that. What was I supposed to say to that?

"Sure." I just agreed and I walked to my room. I was so sick of my mother trying everything to make sure that I remained popular. She wanted it even more than I did, and I could tell you that I wanted it and it wanted it badly. I felt like I needed it some days. Popularity was like a sense of stability, assurance. I couldn't really explain it. It was both the best and worst thing in the world. Being popular at school could feel amazing, but you paid a huge prize in order to get it and some days I wondered if it was all worth it? I didn't even know anymore.

A week passed by without anything really changing. We met all of the new teachers and I couldn't recall any of their names. But they kept forgetting my name too, so it was only fair that I didn't even try to remember theirs either. All of the teachers did warn us about junior year. That it was going to be tough and that we were going to have to study the double the amount we had last year. I would believe it when I saw it.

In middle school teachers said that we needed to study hard, and that turned out to be a big, fat lie, so why would I believe them now? I just knew that mathematics was going to be hard, but I would manage with the rest of my classes. One week had passed and I still hadn't said a word to the new girl.

She smiled every time she saw me staring, though. That was another thing that kept me going. Staring at Brittany soon became one of my favorite things to do in class. Even though she didn't look too smart, I was pretty sure she was. Well, I hoped she was because otherwise she would have to change classes and I wouldn't get to stare at her anymore and that would be disastrous.

I had to admit my staring had become slightly creepy. I strategically placed myself behind and to the right of Brittany in class, because that was the angle of her face I liked best. I liked to think that I was totally sneaky and Brittany had remained oblivious to my leering, but I knew that she had noticed. I mean, she must have especially since sometimes she looked up and right back at me when I had gone off to dream world. I had absolutely no idea why I spent hours staring at Brittany. She was beautiful and all, but why did I need to stare at her? I mean, Quinn was gorgeous too but I didn't feel the need to stare at her. That was probably also because I kind of despised Quinn, but that wasn't an argument because I didn't even know Brittany. I couldn't explain it and it was messing up my head. If only I had an explanation. I figured I just thought Brittany seemed cool and I wanted to be friends with her. That seemed right didn't it?

Now that school had started again, it was practically impossible to ignore Finn any longer. The fact that he was almost ten feet tall didn't help much either. Hiding from him at school was pretty much impossible because he could easily look over everyone's head. Now, he texted me constantly and if I didn't answer within the hour he would start calling. He was being a little stalker and that was coming from a girl who stared at someone in class for the whole period. So I knew what the word stalker meant.

I looked at my phone and indeed, Finn had texted me. '_Hey_.' He wasn't even being original. I mean, come on? Hey? That's lame.

I quickly typed '_hey_' back. My morning voice wasn't ready to be heard. I quickly pressed send and shoved my phone back into my pocket. The clock was ticking and I really should've been leaving to go to school. Today was Friday, luckily, so that meant an entire weekend at home during which I only needed to play hockey was awaiting me when last period ended.

I jumped on my bike and raced to school. I looked at my phone and I saw that Finn had answered my text, but I didn't have time to respond to it anymore. After racing to school, riding my bike way too fast, I arrived at the park across from our campus. I quickly jumped off my bike and walked to school. I always parked my bike a little further away from the school than usual because the traffic got crazy sometimes when school finally ended. This way, I could get to it fast and be gone as soon as possible. I suddenly spotted a blonde girl from the corner of my eye and recognized Brittany. My heartbeat increased slightly almost instantly and I had no idea why. She seemed to be struggling with her bike. I contemplated whether I should help her or not. There were only a couple of minutes left until the first class started and I didn't want to be late but I could see she was really struggling. If I helped her fast, maybe we could both be on time. And that also gave me the opportunity to talk to her, away from Quinn and her judging eyes.

"Do you – um – need help or something?" I said shyly.

Brittany looked up and found my eyes. Watching her blue eyes from so close by made me realize that they were even prettier than I had originally thought. She smiled back at me.

"Yes, thank you. I can't get my key out of my lock. I can't leave my bike here unlocked because I'm pretty sure people will steal it." Brittany laughed.

I laughed back, not really knowing what to say. Her voice sounded amazing.

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't really promise anything." I bent my knees and started pulling the key out of the lock. Brittany was right. It was stuck. Damn, I wanted to be her hero and somehow manage to fix it all in under a minute but this seemed a little bit harder than I had anticipated.

"Thanks, Santana. It really means a lot that you want to help me." I looked up at Brittany, who was staring down at me. I knew that she had to know my name, because we were in the same class, but it felt weird the first time someone said your name and certainly when it was her.

"You can thank me if I manage to get this fixed because I have no idea how you're going to keep your bike safe if the key isn't coming out of the lock."

"Yeah, me neither. I guess I'll have to go home and take my bike with me. I'll just walk to school and be back for second period." Brittany sighed.

"Okay." I said.

"But thank you anyway for trying to lend a hand. That was very kind of you and I appreciate it." Brittany said to me.

"You're welcome. I'm really sorry I couldn't help you. It sucks that you'll have to walk all the way to school."

Brittany stepped slightly closer. "Santana, would you join me? You don't have to if you don't want to, but it's a pretty lonely walk and I could really use the company. Plus, we could get to know each other a little better. But I understand if you want to go to class. I heard that they don't check if you skip this week because so many people change classes all the time."

I stared at Brittany. Was she really asking me to skip school with her? It did seem really tempting. And Brittany was right. They didn't check attendance the first week because people usually didn't skip the first week. So the school was just being lazy because all the classes changed up anyway. But it was school and I didn't want to skip it.

"I don't –" I was just about to say no but Brittany interrupted me before I could finish my sentence.

"You don't want to. I get it. It's okay. I just really wanted to get to know you." Brittany pouted and my heart melted. Brittany looked away.

"No, no, I'll join you. I mean it." Brittany spun around and her eyes sparkled.

"Yes?" She said hopefully.  
I quickly nodded. I had no idea what I had just gotten myself into.

Brittany took her bike with by the handlebars and started walking. I walked next to her and had no idea what I was supposed to be saying.

"So do you like your new school?" I asked. I hoped the conversation would pick up from there.

"Yes, I really do. It's better than my old school anyway, so yeah I like it. I haven't made too many friends, though." Brittany trailed off.

She hadn't made any friends, except Rachel Berry but did that even count? I felt slightly sorry for her. At the same time I wondered why she had left her old school.

"Why did you come here? It's a weird time to change schools." I remarked.

"Yeah, we moved so I had to transfer here. My dad got a new job."

"Oh, that's cool."

"Yeah." Brittany nodded but she didn't sound too convinced. I didn't ask anything more about her dad. It seemed like a touchy subject that she would rather not talk about.

"What do you like to do in your free time?" I asked and internally rolled my eyes. That sounded so lame out loud.

"Oh, I like to do a lot of things. I like watching TV and listening to music but I like dancing the most." Brittany said happily.

"What kind of styles do you like to dance? Hip-hop or like –" I didn't know that much about dancing honestly, but Brittany seemed very enthusiastic about it, so I thought I'd better pretend to actually know something about dancing, which I didn't.

"Yes, I took hip-hop, contemporary, ballet and jazz classes."

My mouth fell slightly open. "You did all of them?" I asked impressed.

"Yes. I do love dancing. It's my passion so I spend as much time as I can on it, but sometimes it's hard with school and stuff." Brittany said happily.

"I bet you're pretty amazing." I had to admit. The image of Brittany dancing crossed my mind just then and damn. I'd be lying if I said her body didn't look amazing.

"I don't want to brag, but I'm decent." Brittany shrugged.

"You should dance for me once." I blurted out. The moment those words slipped my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Santana, the creepy stalker had returned. I had literally just met this girl and I was already asking her to dance for me? What the actual fuck was wrong with me? But luckily Brittany laughed.

"I would love to dance for you." Brittany stared right into my eyes and at the same time she put her hand on my bare arm. A current of electricity ran between them and I wondered if Brittany felt it too. I smiled slightly back at her and was the first to look away.

"I'm going to hold you to that promise."

Brittany laughed again and it was an amazing sound. "I bet you will."

"Is your house still far away?" We had been walking for about fifteen minutes and I wondered if it was still far. Not that I didn't enjoy spending time with Brittany but I did despise walking. A lot.

"No, it's at the end of the street. I'll just put my bike in the garage and then we can walk back."

"Sounds good to me." I nodded.

We arrived at the end of the street. Brittany's house seemed pretty from the outside. It wasn't as big as I was used to with all those rich kids at my school but it was still larger than your average house.

"Could you perhaps wait outside? I'll be right back, I swear." Brittany asked me.

I quickly nodded. "Sure, no problem. I'll be here."

"Thanks Santana." Brittany said before taking her bike and entering her house.

I didn't know what to do so I checked my phone. I had two texts, both of them from Finn.

_'Why aren't you at school?' _was the first one, the second one '_Are you sick?_ '.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket. I would answer later. Or maybe not. I probably would eventually, just not right now. Brittany was back.

"Okay, I put my bike in the garage. Let's go back to school." Brittany said.

"Yeah, that's fine by me."

We started walking. "How long have you been going to our school?" Brittany asked me.

"For seven years now." I responded. Wow, had it really been seven years? That was such a huge chunk of my life and I hadn't even realized it until now.

"So, do you have any tips for a new girl like me to survive at this school?" Brittany laughed.

"You'll have to earn the right to my tips, miss. I can't give all the good stuff away now, can I?" I teased.

"That's true. I guess I will have to earn it." Brittany smiled.

"Why did you choose the hardest classes this school has got to offer?" I asked. I had to admit. Brittany didn't appear to be the smartest fish in the sea, so I was kind of worried that she had underestimated the hard work.

"I really like mathematics and science. They sounded really interesting and this school is known for them, so I thought I would give it a shot. I'm actually pretty decent at science and stuff. It's the modern languages that I struggle with but that's to be expected since I'm dyslexic." Brittany shrugged.

"You're dyslexic?"

She nodded. "Yes, we only found out recently. I was kind of happy, though. I know that sounds weird but I always had trouble reading and writing and now I finally found the reason why. When I was younger I always thought I was dumb because I read slower than every other kid in the class and my writing was even worse. But in the years to follow, I got better at mathematics and science. Last year a teacher finally discovered that I had a learning disability."

"Does the school help you with stuff like that?"

Brittany nodded again. "They do actually. My mom was quite worried that they weren't going to help me but they did. I have to write a sign on every test indicating I'm dyslexic so teachers don't take points off for stupid grammatical errors or spelling mistakes. I also get more time to write my exams, which I can really use. French and English are always tough to finish on time so maybe this will help."

"That's pretty cool that they are willing to help you out."

"Yes, if they wouldn't, I think I would have gone to another school. My last school ignored my dyslexia for so long and my mom wanted me to have the best." Brittany smiled.

"Your mom seems really nice if she wants the best for you." Thoughts of my own mom slipped into my mind. She never helped me with my homework but if I came home with bad grades, she was still furious. I barely heard her when I actually got a good report card, but Brittany's mom seemed really supportive.

"Yes, my mom is pretty amazing. She always supported me even when my grades were bad because of my learning disability. My grades have been improving a lot since I got a lot more interested in science since I'm actually good at it. And what about you?" Brittany looked at me curiously while we continued walking.

"Honestly, I never really had to study hard or anything but I don't know if that's a good thing. I don't want to brag or anything. There's only so far you can go without really studying or paying attention and I feel like this is the year I'm going to hit a wall and I'm going to hit it hard. I'm just a really lazy student that never had to work and now has no idea how to actually study." I admitted.

"I can understand that. I always had to learn hard but if I had never had to put in effort, I wouldn't know how to properly study either."

"Yeah, it feels conceited to say that out loud because that implies I think I'm smart, which I don't consider myself to be. But I'm a quick learner and I pick things up easily, but I have a weird feeling that this year is going to be way tougher than ever before."

"Yes, I have the same feeling. But we'll make it through, right? Together." Brittany said with a goofy smile on her face.

"Of course." I smiled back.

We had arrived at school. "Santana, can I ask you something?" Brittany asked.

"Sure." I nodded.

"Do you want to have lunch with me today? I haven't met a lot of nice people and maybe you wanted to hang out some more? It's okay if you say no if you don't want to but I really liked our walk and I would like to get to know you better so I thought I would invite you to lunch and –" Brittany was rambling and she looked incredibly cute.

I placed my index finger on her lips to shush her. "Yes, Brittany. I really liked our walk too so yes, I will have lunch with you."

Her eyes lit up and a big smile formed on her lips. "Thank you so much Santana. You're too nice. I can't bear one more lunch with Rachel Berry. All she ever talks about is Broadway and musicals and I don't really like that stuff, like at all." Brittany laughed.

"She's so annoying right?" I responded with a laugh.

"Oh yes, she really is but she's the only friend that I have at the moment so I'm going to continue being nice to her, otherwise I won't have anyone left."

"You have me." I blurted out. What the fuck was wrong with me?

Brittany spun around and looked me in the eyes. "You're totally not what I expected you to be, Santana Lopez." Brittany had a cocky smile around her lips.

I raised my eyebrows.

"And how did you expect me to be? Or is it not a good idea for me to hear this?"

Brittany shrugged. "First, I didn't expect you to be so nice. Frankly, I thought you would be one of those rude popular girls that never talk to the new girl until she becomes cool."

I probably would have reacted that way if Brittany weren't so damn cute all the time.

"I'm glad you think I'm nice. I'm usually not this pleasant with people I don't know. So consider yourself lucky." I say. We arrived at school and continued towards our second class. We had missed the entire first period, but we were still on time for the second one.

"I do consider myself lucky, but that's not all that's unexpected about you. I'll tell you the other part that surprises me some other time."

I pouted. "Why won't you tell me now?"

"I guess you'll have to hang out with me to find out." Brittany shrugged.

"Damn you. I'm not sure if I still like you, Brittany." We were now standing in front of the door while the rest of our class walked in. They gave us weird looks since we only arrived to school at the start of second period, but nobody asked questions. From the corner of my eye, I could see Quinn with a confused look on her face. Uh oh, that didn't look too good.

"Don't lie to me Santana. I have seen you staring at me." Brittany winked and she walked into classroom.

My mouth fell open. Before I could process what Brittany had said to me, I heard Tina talk to me from behind.

"Where were you?" Tina rapidly fired her question, she almost sounded angry.

The cool thing about Tina was that she knew everything about everyone. I had absolutely no idea how she did it, but she knew everything. From the moment she didn't know what was going on, she went mental, like now.

"Brittany's bike didn't lock, so we had to walk all the way to her home and then walk back to school." I said quickly, hoping that Tina wouldn't ask any more questions.

"I realize that is a valid reason for Brittany to be late." Tina said and she emphasized Brittany. "But that's no reason for you to be late as well. What, are you two friends now?" Tina raised her eyebrows, her eyes shifting between Brittany and me. I saw that Quinn was listening in on our conversation.

"I don't know. I guess. She was nice and she doesn't have any friends. It doesn't hurt to get to know her, right?"

"Have you even seen what she wears every day to school? She's not like us and she will never be."

It was true that Brittany still had no sense of style. Today, she wore a panda hat even though it was still 25 degrees Celsius outside and that was quite warm for Belgium.

"That doesn't change the fact that she's nice and friendly."

"That's true, but it doesn't take kindness to become popular, Santana. You know that."

Why did this feel like a warning? Tina walked inside with Quinn. I heard Quinn whispering in Tina's ear.

"Find out everything you can about that girl. I need to know where she's from, who she is and more specifically who she dated. Can you do that?"

Tina quickly nodded.

This wasn't good. This couldn't end well. Fuck. I walked in class and my eyes shifted from Brittany to Quinn to Tina. I prayed to God that Quinn wouldn't make it her goal to ruin Brittany's life. Fuck.


End file.
